Newly Diagnosed

Messymum

Hi all

I have just been diagnosed with RA and am devastated. I am 40 and mum to 2 young children 7 & 3 and I am a registered childminder. I initially went to my GP about 6 weeks ago with pain in my feet and hands and had bloods taken, the results came back positive for RA and I am pleased to say my referral came through pretty quick and I have an appointment with a Rheumatoligist tomorrow. Over the last few weeks all my joints have been sore at some point but this week I have particularly bad pain in my neck and spine. Emotionally I am finding this really difficult to deal with especially when my son wants lifted or I can't open a jar or squeeze a tube. This all just seems to have happened so quickly and I am really scared as to what the future will hold. My GP prescribed Naproxen and Co Codamol and to be honest I don't think these have made any difference. Tomorrow just can't come soon enough but at the same time I am a bit apprehensive at what the Rheumatologist will have to tell me.

stickywicket

Hello messymum (Great username ). It’s nice to meet you but you must heartily wish you’d never had to come here. Of course you are devastated. It’s all happened so quickly and must seem so threatening.

It won’t seem like it, right now, but, actually, your quick-acting GP and speedy rheumatology appointment are good things. Many people on here have to wait ages before anything is done and, even then, the blood results don’t always show anything conclusive for some time. You, like me (albeit some 50+ years ago :roll: ) have been diagnosed straight away and that means you can be started on the medications that will hold the disease at bay.

It’s not quite so simple. It can be a matter of trial and error which meds work for who and the first one doesn’t always do the job – but sometimes does. Your GP can’t prescribe these disease modifying meds except as directed by the rheumatologist. He’s actually doing his best with the naproxen and co-codamol but, at best, they will only help to reduce the inflammation and pain.

Coping with young children is very difficult but still possible. I learnt to pick mine up in ways that terrified others but which I knew was safe for me. (At 3, he can help you by holding onto whichever bits of you are easiest for you.) Arthritis Care have a booklet on this, and other things http://www.arthritiscare.org.uk/PublicationsandResources/Listedbysubject As for opening jars, squeezing tubes etc, we have a thread, higher up the page, called ‘Simple ideas…..’ where you might get some tips for all sorts of things.

I hope things go well for you tomorrow. I shall keep my fingers crossed and be thinking of you.

Tubby

Hi Messymum

I really feel for you but at least you are now going to get some help and guidance. This is a very frustrating disease but I find knowing what is wrong with me at least gives me some direction (rather than comfort!). I have good and bad days but I still work full time and have a life. I find the emotional stuff and the tiredness almost worse than the pain but the folk on this forum are great and somewhere to come to when it all feels a bit much.

Good luck with the Rheumatologist tomorrow, let us all know how you get on.

Tubby

BonnGayle

Hello Messy mum
Im new to a diagnosis too although not new to RA as I had to wait 5 years for a diagnosis, I work with children under two for my job and Ive found that sitting ona chair or stool or if you can the ground and then the little one can climb up or you can reach down is much better for me than picking children up my full height, like you my back is my main area of pain add to that hip pain and I walk very strangly sometimes, hard as it is you have to learn to laugh at it and not beat you down, accept its there and learn the best ways around it. 8)

Messymum

Thanks for all your replies, my appointment went well and I have been started on Meloxicam and Sulfasalazine and he also gave me a cortisone injection today. After a thorough examination he thinks it's actually Psoriatic Arthritis and not Rheumatoid as initially thought. I do feel slightly better after seeing him today but now need to go and read up on my new diagnosis. Once again thankyou for all of your replies, it's nice to have a wee bit of support x

Tubby

I have Psoriatic Arthritis and I am only a little older than you.....there is life after diagnosis. You will have lots of ups and downs but knowing what it is helps